Thoughts of a Father. (Prunepicker)

I am very happy that I am a father. My children have been and are such a blessing to me. They are the only family that I have now. All eight of my siblings have died. My wife Jackie passed away five years ago. My oldest son passed away 1 1/2 years ago. I lost a beloved grandson nine years ago.

It may be possibly due to my DNA and rearing but I am a loner. Loners get lonely too and I busy myself with much activity. How lonely would I be without my children? Very. I had four children who have blessed me with nine grand children and nine great grand children. I love them all and am so proud of them.

My children are good to me. I am grateful. I receive so much love and support from my children all the time. May God bless them. I believe that we are growing closer together as I grow old. I will be old pretty soon. I will be 87 next July 20.

I want to let my descendants know that I really love them and appreciate them. I ponder often about how I rate as a father. If 100 is perfect, I would say that I rate around 70. I know that I fell short on expressed love and companionship. Like I have indicated it is the way I am. My make up is too much a loner. I was raised lonely. My Mother passed away when I was five. I was the youngest of nine. My next oldest sibling was four years older than me. All my other siblings were busy with their own lives during my formative years. I was quite a bit on my own. When the time came I welcomed having my own family but was not the best possible father.

My advice to fathers is to be loving and put in the time required to be a real friend. I see lots of very good fathers in my life here.

This blog is my attempt to express to my children my love for them. I do love them.